ReBIRTH
by FutureDerpy.InvisiableWalls
Summary: [Hiatus] [Spoiler warning for the end of OFF. If you haven't completed the game yet I would NOT recommend reading until you do!] When Batter resets everything he is given one more chance to save the world... but this time there's a twist! Read and review!
1. Chapter 0- Prolouge

[The switch is now OFF]

The world went blank immediately. Judge's soft cries quickly faded into the nothingness. The void of Batter's thoughts. He was alone in a giant mass of emptiness with only himself to talk to, although curiously when he spoke he couldn't even hear himself.

"I figured... that when i pulled the switch it would all be over. I and the the rest of the world would be pure. But now here I am; alone in this infinite blank space." He wasn't sure if his eyes were even open or not so he hardly payed attention to such a useless detail. Nevertheless he tried his hardest to squint and stare for any signs of anything besides a sever lack of coloration or, frankly, creativity. After what seemed to be an eternity of floating in the abyss he could hear a faint call; a familiar one at that.

"Batter! Batter! Help me Batter!" the voice cried out. He immediately recognized it as Zacharie.

"I'm here, I'm here! I'm so lonely, Zacharie! Purifying that world was a mistake... please talk to me. Forgive me."

"Batter, please. Come now and help me! It is so lonely here. If you can hear me just call as loud as you can!"

"I'm here, I'm here! Zacharie, please! Why can't you hear me?" He began to feel tears stream down his cheeks as he cried to his lungs fullest. Suddenly the voices completely stopped and the vast blackness began to, slowly, become a more pale grey and then white. Batter looked at his hands but still saw nothing. The whiteness that had overtaken was not light but just another flat color. Batter began to feel the same pit in his stomach as he had felt when he had initially pulled the switch. "This can't be happening..." he thought to himself. Suddenly right in front of him the shape of a ghost formed. The spectre was wearing a black baseball cap and a white uniform uncannily similar to the one Batter was wearing.

Suddenly the spectre spoke in a soft yet scratchy voice saying, "Batter, Batter... look what you have become. Now you are the real threat. Not to me but to yourself. Look at yourself Batter and realize what you really are."

Suddenly a large pool of reflective plastics and metals formed in front of Batter and as he leaned forward to see his reflection he was genuinely afraid. What he saw was what he had always hoped to never become; a true monster. A visible and frightening one. In reaction he said, "I... I can't believe this. This reflection is a lie..."

"The reflection is not a lie," The spectre said, "but in fact just a reflection of what you are now. There is only one person who can fix this, Batter. You know who that person is."

"Is... is it Zacharie?"

"If that is who you think it is then, yes, it is Zacharie. I once knew Zacharie myself, actually." The spectre lightly chuckled although it wasn't like any human laugh. It was distorted and fast. Over before it could even be appreciated.

"Really? Where did you meet him? Where can I find him?"

"I knew him in what was the Smoke Mines... those are gone now. He used to have a shop in the end of the East area. Said I was his only customer. I met him again in the factories of Zone 3 and he told me all about you. I stayed in those factories inside one of the only safe rooms in that zone. The only remaining survivors are me and a pretty beat-up looking man with a white cat."

"C-cat? Is it Pablo?"

"Could be although it didn't seem quite the same. Had less relaxed eyes of a different color; blue."

"Valerie lived? So that's where he was... oh Pablo... Zacharie..." Batter sighed as a puff of black smoke dribbled into the vastness of the empty space.

"I must tell you that I'm not like any ordinary spectre, Batter. I am a spectre with a special gift. Let me show you." Suddenly a puff of black flame and a small crown appeared on the spectre's head. He said, "I can grant you one wish, Batter. But that wish is not yours to choose. If you would like I could send you back to where it all began. But all the people you met will not recognize you and all the people you saved will need to be saved again. If you promise to not bring chaos to those lands that once were than we will meet again at the end of your travels. However... If you once again destroy the living generators and kill off my kind... well, you won't be getting this second chance."

"Second chance..." The Batter whispered to himself. He looked deep in thought for several seconds before looking up, "I agree to your challenge, spectre."

"Good, good. You have much to learn this time around. Go forth on your final rounds and play the game again. However, this time your bat is justice; not hatred. Be careful how you use this chance Batter. It could cost you personally if you don't properly fulfill your task. Those that had attempted to destroy you before will seek to destroy you again and your use of compassion must be handled properly. I expect to hear from you again. Good luck, Batter."

Suddenly the world around Batter began to increase in color. The once familiar tones and shades returned. There was a huge crack and the wave of relief was so immense that he almost couldn't stand up. He had returned to the normal world although something was... different. He felt a slight charring in his throat and as he went to cough suddenly a large mass of smoke bellowed from his lungs. He looked down at his hands only to see tiny stubs of white ectoplasm and as for his feet there were none. He just hovered momentarily before he had realized what had happened. He had become a spectre.


	2. Chapter 1- The Yellow Isles

You couldn't tell by its milky shades that the liquid seas stretching on for miles beyond the small golden island were so sharp and compact especially by their slow waves and subtle motions. Sounds of droplets and the splashing rains of an indoor day fill the atmosphere; a perfect place to waste hours and lifetimes staring at the sherbet shades of an unending sunset. Despite it's seemingly well mooded environment sporting a relished climate and warm solid tile, there had not been a singular human or spectral inhabitant for several generations. The died out location hollowed by ancestors long since unrecorded, owned by a singular leisurely cat.

Chapter 1

A blinding flash of light, like the clap of a sun, left a rupture on the ground near the south of the hushed-yellow island. Emerging from a quickly dissipating charcoal cloud was a spectral form of The Batter himself; clad in his muted clothes and the same flat expression clear on any veteran ghost slayer would bear. His closed eyes seemed tense and his hands were balled like fists. He wasn't quite opaque and yet anyone who saw him would swear they never even noticed. Of course he wasn't used to this new form having just as recently noticed his lack of solidified existince as the clouds dissipated. Taking his first breaths in his newfound body left an unpleasant taste in his mouth (not that the man knew pleasantry more than any other of his absent emotions) similar to smog and as dark as soot. Everywhere heat left his body so did his smoking form. The trail of dark clouds rose into the eternally caramel skies and left enough of an impression to draw the attention of the island's now accompanied "freeholder."

Nearly instantaneously the cat appeared before The Batter and spoke in his clean and unsettling voice, "There cannot be any other living beings in zone 0, so I must assume that you are only a mere figment of my imagination. Nevertheless, I will introduce myself. I am the Judge, and I am aching to know your name, dear illusory interlocutor."

The Batter shuffled and answered in his raspy tone, "I'm the Batter. I've been assigned to a sacred mission... however."

"However?"

"There has been a 'change of plan.'"

"Well, regardless, it is a pleasure. Any way I can aid your 'change of plan' is likely the most fortunate of obligations."

"Thanks."

"On my own interests I would like to address that your strings appear to have been... cut loose."

"Strings?"

"Oh yes, every puppet has it's strings. And yours appear to have been quite tightly wound, spectral form... 'Batter'..."

"Yes."

"You stir memories I do not posses, Batter. What have you not told me?"

The Batter remained silent.

"Perhaps not all knowledge is meant to be shared. Let us continue; where is your puppeteer?"

"They have left."

"'Left'?" Judge repeated.

"They finished. Their guidance has served it's course."

"My, Batter, you do seem questionable but I fear I've already delved too far into my pleasures. If I can provide any service to you please do not hesitate." The Batter remained silent. "I presume you need no combat tutorial, correct? You seem to have a chiseled spirit fit for any such occurence."

"I need so such thing."

"As you wish."

The proceeded forward at a leisurely pace into the towering building. Soft splashes of plastic brushed against it's thick shores however both figures were unfazed. The sound was more framiliar than one's own footsteps. The Judge silently observed Batter's stiff motions providing a rather comical show while he attempted to move in his new form.

"You seem new to this, my spectral friend. How did you come about this new body of yours?"

"I made a trade."

"And this was your 'change of plans'?"

"Yes." Batter replied, appearing annoyed by the barrage of questions.

After a long drawn silence the Judge began, "You see, it gets quite lonely here. My brother..." his voice gave a crack and he motioned his head, starting again, "I haven't seen my brother for quite some time. Otherwise I only have two others I can speak with but only one provides little new discussion."

"And the other?" Batter asked curiously.

"She's... creative."

"She?"

"She."

Followed by another long period of silence. Batter wondered what was beneath the deep thick plastic and Judge wondered what was beneath Batter's deep thick cranium. Both shook the thought away.

"My comrade, do you feel any emotions?" Judge started again as Batter attempted to ascend the ladder at the foot of the building.

"It's... new."

"So you do?"

"Of course I do. But it's different. It feels very artificial."

"It's only fitting," Judge chuckled, "We all become accustomed to it. For some it's overbearing and for others it's a waste of time. I'm glad to see you taking notice to your own."

Batter nodded slowly.

"If I can make a suggestion, and I'm certain I can, why don't you try them all?"

The Batter thought for a moment before replying, "Alright." as they reached the top of the building.


End file.
